The French Connection Scene 8 Summary

  • Cloudy provides a sketch of Sal Boca, the big spender from the other night, as a voice over, as Cloudy and Popeye watch him working with his wife Angie at their store. They're staked out across the street with binoculars.
  • (Note that this sequence is mixed in with a lot of shots to let us know that Popeye and Cloudy are spending a bunch of time tailing Sal.)
  • Cloudy calls Sal a "real sweetheart." He's a suspected jewelry thief and contract killer.
  • Popeye asks about Angie, and Cloudy says she's young—nineteen—and has a record for shoplifting. He calls her a "fast filly."
  • The way these people talk is ridiculous.
  • Cloudy adds that he makes seven grand a year but has two cars and plenty of spending money. Day turns to night, and we watch Sal dressed up, leaving the store with Angie. Technically, his brother Lou owns the white car, while Angie owns the LTD.
  • We see film of Sal's brother Lou, who is a "trainee at the garbageman school on Ward's Island" working at the dump.
  • A black Cadillac rolls up in front Sal's store. Popeye reports it's got Jersey plates, and that one of the men is familiar from Sal's all-nighter the first time they tailed him.
  • Now we're inside the store, and Angie is flirting with Cloudy (undercover) at the counter, while two men enter the store and meet Sal in the back.
  • Now Sal is leaving a large apartment building, which we learn via a Cloudy and Popeye voiceover is the dwelling of one Joel Weinstock, a known finance guy for big drug deals.
  • Then Popeye and Cloudy follow Sal as he heads toward Ward's Island. They're forced to turn around, since continuing on will make them conspicuous.